Diesel price rise: £2 pumps in 559 constituencies, Electrical Times reports

Electrical Times reports a diesel price rise of 35.2p a litre since 11 July, taking the UK average to 199.4p. If you priced work over the summer, the fuel on those jobs may now cost more than you allowed.

Electrical Times’ report of 29 September 2026 cites New AutoMotive’s analysis of the Government’s Fuel Finder data. By Electrical Times’ comparison, the 199.4p average is now past the RAC’s June 2022 record of 199.09p. Fuel is one of the costs of running the business side of a trade, and it moves week to week, while a quote fixes it on the day you send it.

More than one forecourt in four now charges £2 or more for a litre of standard diesel, Electrical Times reports, and in early July none did. Electrical Times counts at least one such station in 559 of the UK’s 650 constituencies. That’s at least one forecourt in each of Electrical Times’ 559, not every pump in them. In 148 constituencies, Electrical Times says, at least half the forecourts have crossed £2.

Where you work changes the picture. Electrical Times puts the cheapest constituency average at 191.2p in Watford and the highest at 211.9p in Na h-Eileanan an Iar, where 11 of 12 forecourts charge £2 or more.

Electrical Times doesn’t say exactly when the prices were taken, and pump prices move fast. Treat them as reported figures, not a live price for your route.

Diesel prices: the family car figure won’t price your vans

Electrical Times reports that a family driving 9,200 miles a year in a diesel car now spends about £1,970 on fuel, around £340 more than in early July. That’s a car on family mileage, and Electrical Times gives no equivalent for a van. Don’t multiply it by the vans in your yard.

Your vans need their own sum, built from their mileage, their fuel use and the pump prices your business actually pays. A van doing short hops between call-outs in town and one running up the motorway to a single site burn very different amounts for the same week’s work.

Subcontractor pay rates are another line in the quote. Fuel is the line where you hold the evidence yourself: the litres bought and the price paid.

Your fuel receipts give the number the report can’t

On a job you’ve already priced, the useful comparison is with the fuel allowance you put in the quote. The national average tells you the direction. Your receipts tell you what those journeys cost your business.

For the same fuel use, the extra cost is the rise in what you pay per litre, multiplied by the litres bought. When you next work out what to charge for travel, put the date and the pump price beside the fuel line, so you can see later what you priced the journeys against.

Take the 35.2p that Electrical Times reports, multiply it by the litres your vans used last month, and you have a scenario for the rise. Swap in your own pump prices and you have the figure Electrical Times couldn’t give you.